Real Housewives of Atlanta's Cynthia Bailey on That Big Fight, the Fallout, and More

The last two episodes of Real Housewives of Atlanta have been Cray with a capital C thanks to the fight heard 'round the world. While the physical altercation between the guys happened last week, last night's episode dealt with the fallout. I got the chance to catch up with Cynthia Bailey about all of the insanity. Listen in!

Well, first, we need to talk about that big fight everyone's talking about. What's been the feedback?

Cynthia: Being a part of the show, we were all horrified that the fight even happened. It's never happened before on our show where any of us have actually put hands on each other. I don't think any of us were like, "Yay! We had a big fight!" It's not what we do. We fight with our words, throw shade, all that stuff. It's easier to laugh that stuff off and make fun of each other. So, no I didn't like the fight, and I made an apology on behalf of the cast [on Watch What Happens Live].__

What have fans been saying on Twitter?

Cynthia: There were a lot of questions of "Well, who started the fight?" Looking at the show, it looks like [my husband] started the fight—but he was definitely the first guy to try to break it up, and he couldn't hold Apollo and Brandon down. Once Christopher touched Kenya's hand, which I didn't think was aggressively or anything, then Brandon got involved and then it just kind of happened. It just all was a big blur. In terms of who started the fight, I feel like I'm getting a lot of flak because people are saying NeNe did. She's my friend, and that doesn't mean I can't say she started a fight if she started a fight, but I don't feel like she did. Everybody had a lot of touchy questions—at any point any of us could have gotten up and said, "Hey!" I could have charged over to Kandi when she was said Peter gets lap dances. I think everything was cool as long as everybody remained in their seat and only got up to ask a question. The only reason Christopher got up was because he was asking a question, so when Natalie was like "don't backpedal now" and Kenya started walking toward her, that changed the whole tone. Now I'm not saying she started it, but that's when the fight happened.

Did you have any idea going in how intense those questions would be?

Cynthia: I talk to Nene all the time, so I knew her goal was for this to be an opportunity for us...you know, I make no secret I have some relationship issues with my husband; we have our ups and downs—we have our sex issues, so pillow talk was really about how people keep things exciting, whatever it may be. Of course, with this group, there's always going to be some shade, some messy stuff going on.

How did the cast react the next day? What was the fallout?

Cynthia: I think we were all in shock. That fight was very short on tape, but even though it happened really quick, it felt like there was just so much more going on. For the most part, the whole tone was that this is not going to be good.

You all met up for a spa day soon after.

Cynthia: Me and Kandi had a great debate together. I want to call it a debate instead of an argument. And then we go to the spa after the fight to relax and talk about everything, and that went...just OK. At that point, I just wasn't ready. You just can't get into it with somebody and then go to the spa together. I need three days to be mad at you! Can I go through my process? We're women who all come off incredibly strong, but we all are vulnerable, we all have feelings, and nobody likes to be wrong—I at least try to be the bigger person and admit when I'm wrong, like the whole thing with bringing up Natalie and Todd. That was messy for me to bring up. I try to be the classy one and try to be the voice of reason, but every now and then I have to get a little messy too. I just always felt that situation was harmless because it happened years ago, and I thought Kandi's approach would be, "Please, who cares." I didn't think it had any legs, but it had more legs than I thought it had and then it spiraled all this other stuff.

I love the story line this season of your daughter beginning to "date."

Cynthia: I think it's very normal for Noel to be very curious about boys at 14. With my schedule, I want to definitely be in the mix. I don't want her to have all these questions and get answers from her friends. I just feel like it's very normal to want to keep the communication open with your kid and as they grow, to try to guide them throughout that process without being dismissive or saying "You're just not old enough." It's happening anyway. We live in the times of Instagram and Twitter—there's no way I can control Noel's means to information. She can just google how to have sex if that's her question. I would rather have that conversation with her and her feel comfortable talking to me about it. I knew when that became a part of my story line that some people would say, "Oh, she's too young" and some would be like, "Hey, good for you." Times have changed, and you have, as a parent, to change with those times. I'm not raising my kid the way my mom raised me because that was 46 years ago. My mom didn't have the time and didn't feel comfortable talking to me about stuff like that because her mom didn't do it with her—she just had to figure it out. I trust Noel, and she trusts me to give her the right advice and guidance.

__Cynthia:__I wanted her to look fashionable. I was inspired by my students at my school to do a doll. It just seemed like a cool, next thing to do that was positive and inspiring to young girls. It's kind of an honor to have a doll. I was very hands-on creatively because with anything I do I want it to really represent me. I wanted my first doll—I have some other ones that I will be doing as well—to have the Cynthia Bailey signature Afro. I don't really see a lot of other dolls with Afros, and when I wear my 'fro, I feel like I have my power with me that day. It was great to just be able to put together something like this in my likeness and put out a positive message.

__What did you think of the big fight? Who, if anybody, do you think "started it?" And for more RHOA news, you can follow Cynthia on Twitter at @CynthiaBailey10.